After the commercial success and critical failure of 15 Big Ones, the Beach Boys went to the other end of the scale with an uncommercial album that many, including Brian Wilson (and Peter Buck of R.E.M.) consider their best

Essentially a Brian Wilson solo album (it was provisionally titled Brian Loves You), this is one of only two Beach Boys albums to consist entirely of Brian Wilson songs (Mike Love, Al Jardine and Roger McGuinn all cowrite one song each, the rest are Brian's work entirely), the other being Smiley Smile.

The album continues 15 Big Ones' sparse, synth-heavy sound (Brian played almost everything on the majority of tracks, except the guitars, which were played by Carl Wilson), but in other respects the two are night and day - this is one of the most innovative albums ever made, and fans of Jonathan Richman in particular will love it.

Track listing:

  1. Let Us Go On This Way
  2. Roller Skating Child
  3. Mona
  4. Johnny Carson
  5. Good Time
  6. Honkin' Down The Highway
  7. Ding Dang
  8. Solar System
  9. The Night Was So Young
  10. I'll Bet He's Nice
  11. Let's Put Our Hearts Together
  12. I Wanna Pick You Up
  13. Airplane
  14. Love Is A Woman

The album is currently available on a Capitol records twofer with 15 Big Ones

Band line-up for the album - Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, Mike Love

Produced by Brian Wilson, mixdown supervised by Carl Wilson
Previous album - 15 Big Ones
Next album - MIU Album